]]>https://www.libertariannews.org/2017/10/14/our-amazing-debt-cosmos-parody/feed/0622584DR MICHAEL GREGER – HOW NOT TO DIE – Part 1/2 | London Realhttps://www.libertariannews.org/2017/10/13/dr-michael-greger-how-not-to-die-part-12-london-real/
https://www.libertariannews.org/2017/10/13/dr-michael-greger-how-not-to-die-part-12-london-real/#respondSat, 14 Oct 2017 03:40:31 +0000https://www.libertariannews.org/?p=621610Listen to Dr. Greger lay down the facts about diet on London Real – what a fantastic interview.

Mills presented at the Society for Cable & Telecoms Engineers Energy 2020 conference in Denver, CO. on September 12, 2017. The audience consisted of leading Operating Executives from across the Cable industry. Dr. Mills’ presentation is available in PDF format here.

An updated production timeline was published in the presentation. Presently, BrLP plans to have units in field testing in the 2nd half of 2018, and a commercial launch in the 2nd half of 2019. This is about a 1 year push back from the previously projected market date.

]]>https://www.libertariannews.org/2017/09/20/brilliant-light-power-september-update/feed/5597690More Defending of The Indefensible Ketogenic Diethttps://www.libertariannews.org/2017/09/16/more-defending-of-the-indefensible-ketogenic-diet/
https://www.libertariannews.org/2017/09/16/more-defending-of-the-indefensible-ketogenic-diet/#commentsSat, 16 Sep 2017 20:07:37 +0000https://www.libertariannews.org/?p=594471Michael Carrato, one of my readers, didn’t like what I had to say about his ketogenic diet regimen. Carrato writes:

Are you saying that a ketogenic diet CANNOT reverse diabetes and improve markers for CHD? Because it seems that the position of the anti-fat crowd is that keto is positively incompatible with good health, that low fat is the only pathway to curing metabolic illness. Peter Attia and Gary Taubes have challenged that dogma and produced plenty of evidence that the case against fat has NOT BEEN PROVEN sufficiently. In fact, for many people, low carb has been literally a life saver. Count me among them, BTW, so you can fully assess my bias.

Ketogenic diets may improve biomarkers for diabetes and heart disease in people who have been eating the standard American diet due to the weight loss they induce. However, some people will be genetically disposed to have worsening atherosclerosis when on a high fat diet, even with associated weight loss and improved blood lipids.

Long term prospective studies done on children who are placed on a ketogenic diet for the treatment of epilepsy show a wide range of side effects, with the most common two being gastrointestinal disturbances (40.6%) and hyperlipidemia (12.8%).

There have been no prospective studies using coronary artery calcium scans showing that a ketogenic diet can reverse heart disease the way a low fat whole food plant based diet can. If you follow a ketogenic diet, I highly recommend you get regular coronary calcium scans to ensure you don’t have progressing arterial disease.

Further, there are no long term studies that compare cardiovascular incidents between groups of vegans and people on long term ketogenic diets. While some studies have shown improvement in biomarkers for people on ketogenic diets, that doesn’t mean they are as good as a vegan diet when it comes to lowering disease risk long term.

When vegans are compared to healthy meat eaters who eat small portions of meat compared to the average population, the vegans have significantly lower rates of cancer, diabetes and heart disease; this was proven in the AHS2 study.

We also know that meat, in particular processed meat, is a known carcinogen. The current evidence for the carcinogenicity of processed meat places it in the same category of evidence as cigarettes. Animal protein is known to increase IGF-1, a cancer promoting hormone. When we compare meat eaters to vegans and vegetarians, the vegans have the lowest levels of IGF-1. We also know that cooked meats produce heterocyclic amines, which are also a known carcinogen.

So I’ve just linked several studies showing how a ketogenic diet, high in saturated fat, can impair endothelial function, stiffen the arteries, increase inflammation and promote cancer growth. I’m sure you will ignore these as minor side-effects that can be dismissed though – because what matters to you most is not being fat while getting to consume a mountain of dead bodies – right?

We know that when people are put on an ad libitum (eat as much as you want) whole food vegan diet, they showimprovements in diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk. They also show a reversal of cancer and heart disease as well. So here we have proven randomized control trial data, some of the strongest evidence available, showing us that a whole food low fat plant based diet can reverse heart disease and some forms of cancer.

So getting back to your point, the keto diet can indeed improve biomarkers for CVD and diabetes, and I’d say it’s certainly healthier than eating the standard American diet, but that doesn’t mean it is healthy.

Carrato goes on to say,

If, perhaps, Attia were saying something to the effect that “low carb is the ONLY diet for anyone”, then certainly I would be lining up against him too — though perhaps without the immature ad hominems. But he’s NOT saying that, and the low fat people ARE saying it. He is expressing reasonable opposition to what has been such a dogmatic view that it is encoded in national policy and taught to our children!

Attia is promoting a diet that will end up getting some people killed. Granted, most people would probably have their health improve by switching to a ketogenic diet, but only if they are currently eating a standard American diet. Do you think it would be reasonable for Attia to tell a whole food vegan to ditch their diet and start eating nothing but dead bodies, cruciferous vegetables and high fat foods?

The data shows us that there will always be a subset of people who will end up having a heart attack or contracting cancer strictly because they were following a meat based ketogenic diet. To me, this is not a reasonable position to advocate for when we know that a low fat whole food plant based diet can achieve better outcomes. Doctors should be promoting the best diet, not a second or third best diet.

Admittedly, I am not a libertarian, but I am quite familiar with libertarianism, and your post seems to be 180 degrees diametrically opposed to what your chosen ideology professes. Shouldn’t the evidence be presented from all sides so that people are free to use their own judgement to come to an informed decision on what is best for them?

Libertarianism deals with politics, so I’m not sure what libertarianism has to do with diet advice. I’m a libertarian because reason and evidence demonstrate free markets are the best means of improving the human condition. Likewise, I promote a low fat high carb whole food plant based diet because evidence clearly demonstrates this is the ideal diet for humans to consume.

Further, not only is the vegan diet the best for humanity in terms of health, it is undeniably better for the environment, better in terms of efficiency (more human food produced per acre), and clearly has less ethical cognitive dissonance (why not kill and eat dogs?).

]]>https://www.libertariannews.org/2017/09/16/more-defending-of-the-indefensible-ketogenic-diet/feed/2594471Large-Scale Study Proves High-Fat Diet Promotes Health and Longevity – Quackery?https://www.libertariannews.org/2017/09/12/large-scale-study-proves-high-fat-diet-promotes-health-and-longevity-quackery/
https://www.libertariannews.org/2017/09/12/large-scale-study-proves-high-fat-diet-promotes-health-and-longevity-quackery/#commentsTue, 12 Sep 2017 19:34:49 +0000https://www.libertariannews.org/?p=591965Lew Rockwell recently published an article by Dr. Joseph Mercola, who seems enamored with ketogenic diets for some reason. In the article, Mercola advocates for eating a high fat diet and regularly putting oneself into a state of ketosis. Mercola claims this will promote longevity and “boost mitochondrial function.”

It’s true that a properly done ketogenic diet can cause weight loss, and strictly because of that weight loss, it can lower markers of inflammation, improve blood lipid profiles and improve blood glucose levels… in people who were previously eating the standard American diet (ie. people who are already unhealthy and overweight.) However, that doesn’t mean it’s the ideal diet or even one that will promote long term health.

Heavy methamphetamine use will also cause weight loss, which leads to improved blood glucose levels, improved blood lipid profiles and lower markers of inflammation. Obviously that doesn’t mean we should all start doing meth. As with a meth habit, there are unhealthy side effects associated with ketogenic diets that Mercola doesn’t like to talk about too much.

There are so many misleading and flat-out incorrect statements made in Mercola’s article that it’s hard to even know where to start, so I guess I’ll just work my way down the article.

Mercola states,

The benefits of a cyclical ketogenic diet are detailed in my latest best-sellingg book, “Fat for Fuel.”3While the book was peer-reviewed by over a dozen health experts and scientists, a new large-scale international study (known as the international Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology, or PURE, study4,5) adds further weight to the premise that high intakes of healthy fats — especially saturated fats — boost health and longevity.

Given that other major epidemiological studies have reached opposite conclusions, perhaps that’s a clue that the PURE study’s data should be interpreted with some skepticism?

The PURE study took food questionnaires from 135,335 individuals aged 35-70 from 18 countries. Three were high income countries, eleven were middle income and four were low income. Of the eleven “middle” income, ten are considered developing by the IMF, so this study is mostly based on the developing world.

The study found that total fat intake was associated with lower totalmortality risk (ie. accidents, homicides, and every other form of death put together). The study also found that higher carb intake was associated with an increased risk of total mortality. Given that this study is based mostly on the developing world, this inverse relationship is entirely explained by socio-economic factors, not diet. Fat intake is merely a proxy for socio-economic status. The more developed a nation is, the higher its fat intake becomes.

Dr. David L. Katz, Director of Yale University Prevention Research Center, writes,

“In other words, past the hype and headlines, the apparent paradoxes and puzzles, what PURE means is that: poor people with poor diets and barely enough to eat, and living in places with limited if any modern medical care- are more likely to get sick and die than people living in better circumstances. With all due respect to the researchers, and none to the promulgators of massively misleading media coverage- we knew that already.”

Here’s a great video that explains the PURE study results in detail.

Mercola goes on to state, “In related news, another recent study found a reduced-sugar diet lowered liver fat by more than 20 percent in just nine days.” What Mercola fails to mention is that the experimental diet they used swapped out sugar for starch based whole plant foods. In other words, not all carbs are created equal. Sugar is bad, whole food carbs like rice and beans are good.

Then Mercola goes on to say the AHA “has it all wrong” saying:

In June, the American Heart Association (AHA) shocked health conscious individuals around the world by declaring coconut oil dangerous and urging people to switch from butter to margarine to protect their heart health.9According to the AHA, replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats such as margarine and vegetable oil might cut your heart disease risk by as much as 30 percent.

This is a remarkable statement when you consider that margarine and refined polyunsaturated vegetable oils10 have been scientifically identified as the fats that actually DO cause heart disease and other health problems, whereas saturated fats have been exonerated.

Mercola cites a Weston A. Price foundation (WAPF) article as his official source for this claim, not a scientific study. Science Based Medicine lists the WAPF as one of the worst sites on the internet. The WAPF article in question is a tour-de-force of cherry-picked misinformation, hand-waving and red herring arguments that deserves it’s own response, but here’s an article I did on a Peter Attia presentation that pretty much destroys the saturated fat = good pseudoscience. Saturated fat impairs endothelial function and is directly responsible for inflammation. Notice that he just boldly proclaims “saturated fats have been exonerated” without any reference material at all.

Mercola goes on to ask, “Why is the AHA clinging to outdated science?” Claiming that, “If people would simply eat healthy saturated fats like coconut oil and butter, there would be no need for a [cholesterol lowering] vaccine strategy.”

Perhaps he’s not aware that epidemiological studies don’t have the statistical power to show an association between saturated fat intake and serum cholesterol levels, which means only dietary change or comparative studies can tell us about the impact of saturated fat intake.

Perhaps he’s not aware of the 395 dietary change experiments that prove eating saturated fat raises serum cholesterol levels so consistently that there is actually a mathematical formula that will tell you exactly how much saturated fat you need to consume to raise your cholesterol by a given number of points.

Then he cites a Nina Teicholz article entitled, “The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat, and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet:” that accuses the AHA of bias. In actuality, the AHA has beef and pork based diets featured prominently on their web site. They are heavily sponsored by the meat and dairy industry, as well the processed food industry. Frankly, I’m amazed that the AHA isn’t fully in support of a high saturated fat diet given the insane recipes they feature on their site.

Then Mercola goes on to discuss the benefits of water fasting. While I agree that water fasting can have medicinal benefits, I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who is in relatively good health! Perhaps periods of fasting wouldn’t be needed if people ate a calorically dilute plant based diet all the time. The average person can consume five pounds of potatoes a day without gaining weight! There are only 26 calories in an ounce of potatoes, for a total of 2080 calories in five pounds.

The rest of the article is a promotion for his particular brand of keto diet. Mercola says,

The MMT diet is a CYCLICAL or targeted ketogenic diet, high in healthy fats and fiber, low in net carbs with a moderate amount of protein. This targeted component is important, as long-term continuous ketosis has drawbacks that may actually undermine your health and longevity. One of the primary reasons to cycle in and out of ketosis is because the “metabolic magic” in the mitochondria actually occurs during the refeeding phase, not during the starvation phase.

Whoa! He said something half-way truthful! Well call me Sally. Let’s go over his bullet points of benefits.

-Weight loss

Yep, you can lose weight on a keto diet. But you also can lose weight on all sorts of other diets. At the end of the day it’s always calories in vs. calories out. To me, it’s much easier to eat pounds of potatoes every day and loose weight without having to starve myself into ketosis. Studies show weight loss on keto diets is no better or worse than any other diet.

-Reduced inflammation

Mercola cites no studies showing reduced biomarkers of inflammation for people on keto diets. While it’s possible that this might occur for people who are eating the standard American diet and then switch to a keto diet, that doesn’t mean the keto diet is good for you. As I pointed out earlier, saturated fat is a direct causal agent of inflammation.

–Reduced cancer risk

Mercola cites no studies for his claim that keto diets reduce cancer risk. Meat based diets are known to increase cancer risk. Processed meat actually has the same level of confidence in carcinogenicity as cigarettes – both are class 1 carcinogens. While I suppose it’s possible to do a keto vegan diet, I somehow doubt that’s what Mercola is referring to.

-Increased muscle mass

I love the disclaimer he gives for this one. “Chronic ketosis may eventually result in muscle lossas your body is impairing the mTOR pathway, which is important for anabolic growth.” Just an FYI, vegans have set world records for strength. In fact, Roman Gladiators were also known as the “Barley Men of Rome” because of the predominately barley based diet they ate. All carbs – total power.

-Lowered insulin levels

This one irks me because it’s not the keto diet that reduces the blood glucose levels per se, it’s the weight loss it induces that lowers the blood glucose levels. If you were to take an already healthy person and put them on a keto diet, their blood glucose levels would most likely worsen. Intramyocellular lipids (fats in the muscle tissues) are at the root of type II diabetes. This is why losing body fat will improve blood glucose readings.

In thesestudies, we can see that a whole food plant based diet was able to lower blood glucose levels WITHOUTcaloric restriction.

–Increased longevity

Mercola claims that keto diets reduce IGF-1 levels and mimic the life extending properties of caloric restriction. Again, this might be true compared to people who eat the standard American diet, but not to healthy people. Animal protein is known to increase IGF-1. When we compare meat eaters to vegans and vegetarians, the vegans have the lowest levels.

Historically in the US, total caloric intake has increased, overall fat intake has increased, thereby any statement blaming carbs alone for the obesity epidemic is wrong. Fat as a percentage of calories decreased, but fat intake in terms of total calories consumed increased since the 1970s.

Looking at a graph of the percent change in consumption, we can see added fats top the list.

Common sense says fat is behind the obesity epidemic. One gram of fat contains 9 calories compared to 4.5 for carbs or protein. A person would have to eat twice as many carbs by weight as fat to get the same number of calories. Whole food carbs, such as potatoes, beans, rice, etc.. are also bound with fiber and water, which further dilutes their caloric density. Randomized control trials tell us conclusively that reductions in fat intake lead to lower body weights. This is the strongest type of evidence available.

How many fat rice eating Asians on a traditional Asian diet do you know? The lowest obesity rate nations in the world are almost exclusively rice based Asian nations.

Hopefully Lew Rockwell will eventually see Mercola for the quack that he is. Feel free to share this article or republish it as you wish. The more people who see this the better.

]]>https://www.libertariannews.org/2017/09/12/large-scale-study-proves-high-fat-diet-promotes-health-and-longevity-quackery/feed/1591965Let Us Remember 9/11https://www.libertariannews.org/2017/09/11/let-us-remember-911/
https://www.libertariannews.org/2017/09/11/let-us-remember-911/#respondMon, 11 Sep 2017 17:38:03 +0000https://www.libertariannews.org/?p=591460With a documentary that over 2,909 certified architects and engineers have signed off on.

Beth Lambert discusses the state of chronic illness among children in America today. Some researchers are projecting that autism will impact 1 in 2 kids, 80% of boys, by 2025. If we go by more modest models looking at the 13% growth rate of autism and projecting it forward, you still end up with 1 in 4 children by 2033.

Lambert notes that autism effects boys 4 to 1 over girls, which leads her to wonder how many boys will be left that don’t have autism or a neuro-behavioral disorder to carry on our society.

Lambert suggests inflammatory diets as being the link that’s causing the rise in all of these chronic childhood illnesses. Animal products are the primary driver of inflammation in our western diets.

A major national precious metals dealer has just opened its gold-backed scholarship fund for 2017 applicants. Funds will be awarded to students who understand that gold is money and are able to clearly articulate the many failures of the inflation-creating Federal Reserve System.

“The Federal Reserve’s inflationary policies have jacked up education costs, and our company is proud to help students who understand this problem as they cope with this unfolding disaster,” said Stefan Gleason, president of Money Metals Exchange. “Because of abusive and ongoing devaluation of the Federal Reserve Note, we expect the gold that we have set aside to fund the scholarship program will grow in nominal value dramatically over time.”

This scholarship will be open to high school seniors, undergraduate students, and graduate students with an interest in economics, specifically the tradition of the Austrian school. However, one does not have to be an economics major to apply.

The ongoing devaluation of the Federal Reserve Note “dollar” pushes up the nominal prices of assets, goods, and services across America.

Central planners have further contributed to the problem of skyrocketing education costs through easy access to government-subsidized loans which are usually awarded regardless of merit or creditworthiness. Colleges and universities can spend frivolously and raise their tuition costs aggressively. Meanwhile, students frequently leave college with debt that exceeds a home mortgage.

Essays will be reviewed by a blue ribbon committee of professors, economists, and executives of Money Metals Exchange and Sound Money Defense League. The panel will select two (2) undergraduate winners and two (2) graduate winners. All four (4) articles will be published on one or both organizations’ websites. The four (4) winners will also have the opportunity to win the People’s Choice Award which goes to the student whose article attracts the most interest from social media (Facebook, Twitter).

Jp Cortez, Assistant Director of Sound Money Defense League, said, “Last year was a huge success. We had well over one hundred entries from students. Applicants are excited at the prospect of having their essays read and graded by some of the most notable sound money economists and thinkers in the world.”